re: Are you addicted to the internet?(Posted by Lou on 12/5/12 at 11:38 am to ACT)

quote:And could you unplug for the recommended 45 days?

I could refrain from farting around on the internet if that is the point. But I rely on it for legitimate purposes like work research, and research for information that i would otherwise get from a bank statement, newspaper, or phone book.

See, that's the thing. The general addiction survey seems like it's more relevant to '90s/early Y2K Internet for the average consumer, with AOL, chatrooms, newsgroups, IMs, and the novelty of being able to communicate with people from all over the world so easily --- as opposed to today's internet with vast information on every topic in the known universe and the exclusive source of most paid company researchers.

Online forums are my biggest vice, and even then I'm pretty normal. I post here more than any other forum, and look at my post count -- I've been here for 5 years.

I'd say the biggest detriment the Internet has had on my life is that I rarely read a book anymore. Now my reading is in the form of articles, wikipedia entries, blogs, and forum posts. I used to read upward of 50 books a year, and now I'm lucky if I read 3. And the last 3 were the Hunger Games trilogy.